Abeam wakemae



A. WAKBMAN, J1. Coffee-Cleaner.

No. 219,420. Patented Sept..9,1879.

N- FEIERS, PHDTILLITHDGRFHER, WASHINGTON, D C.

n u v ArnN'r anion.

ABRAM WAKEMAN, JR., OF NEl/Y YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN coFFl-:E-GLEAIvses.-

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 219,420, dated September 9, 1879 application filed April 14, 1879.

Toall whom it may concem-` Be it known that I, ABRAM WAKEMAN, J r., of New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in CoffeeOleaners, of which the following is a speciiication, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention consists of a device for clean ing coteebeans and the like.

Vith few exceptions, all coffee-beans, riceseeds, dried berries, Snc., come to the market more or less mixed with imperfect grains, cheaper and dierent kinds of grains,`gravel stones, and various other valueless or foreign matters.

Coffee is now usually cleaned by being thrown, a quart or two at atime, upon a table, and the impurities picked out by hand. To thus clean one bag of one hundred and thirty pounds is about an average days work for an expert.

Rice and other articles aforesaid are either not cleaned at all or are treated in like rude or expensive ways. My device is intended to facilitate these processes. Y

Figurelrepresents a sectional view through line m :12. Fig. 2 represents a plan view of my invention. Fig. 3 is-a guide forming a part of the machine.

For convenience of description, l denominate that end at which the hopper O is placed the rear and its opposite end the front of my machine.

It consists of a frame, A, raised at the rear end, as shown, Fig. l, to carry the roller E, shaking-table G, and hopper O, and is supported on four legs, B.

Two rollers, O C, of about five or six inches in diameter, are supported by and revolve in the frame A, as shown.

cloth, D, sufficiently tight rcllers. Theband of clot-h should be of such width that one at the front of the machine and opposite the middle of the cloth, as the upper surface moves toward him, can conveniently pick u p anything near that end of the machinesay between three and four feet.

When the exhaust, hereinafter described, is used, the cloth l) should be of open texture, like a ne sieve.

Over these rollers is .smoothly stretched an endless band of strong to move with `the.

Above the band of cloth D, and at such a height as not to touch it, a third roller, E, is placed near the rear end of the machine in any suitable support. The middle of this roller is provided with four pegs, e, set perpendicular to its surface. The roller E revolves in the direction of the arrow.

A shaking-table, G, is suspended on a hinge, g, as shown, above the roller E. It is provided with a rack, H, on its under side, with which the pegs e come in contact as the roller E revolves, thus raising the table when a peg comes in contact with the rack, and suffering the table to drop as the peg escapes, thus imparting a shaking motion to it.

l am aware shaking-tables have been used before in manufacture, and that motion has "been imparted to the table in many different ways. l do not, therefore, contine myself to the method here described. Anything which gives a vertical vibration to the shaking-table will answer.

The shaking-table G has the form of atrapezoid, and is hinged on its shortest side, as shown. lt is surrounded by a ledge, K), about one and one-half inch high. lts bottom, near the longest edge, is perforated with a number of holcs,. K K. These holes are covered on the lower side of the shaking-table with a strip, L, of metal or wood,also perforated with holes of like size and number. L is set in guides, and may be moved like the damper of a stove, so as to close the holes in the shakingtable altogether, or leave them wholly or partly open.

A post, M, terminating in a screw and nut, is erected from the upper side of the shakingtable l, passes through a hole, n, in the superstructure N, and the nut is then screwed on. The hole n should considerably exceed the diameter ofthe post M, so as to permit it to vibrate with the shaking-table. The office of the post M is to regulate, by the screw and nut, the amount of drop,and consequentlyithe vibration, of the shakingtable".

A hopper, O, is erected `on the superstructure N, through which a discharge, 0, opens above the shaking-table. l

A slide, l), regulates, by means of the lever p, the size of the openingo, as shown in Fig. 2.

In front of the shaking-tableG is placed the the teeth should be a little larger than the beam-grain, or berry to be cleaned with the machine. When in use the ends of the teeth should lightly touch the surface of the endless band D.

In front of Q, and near it, the trunk R is erected, as shown.

R is provided with an opening, r, ou its front side and near its upper edge. This opening extends the whole width of the trunk, and is, at will, altogether or partly closed by the shutter r. The position of the shutter r', and

consequently the width of the opening r, is`

controlled by the shaft, cord, and pulley s, as shown in Fig. 1, or in any other convenient manner. The lower mouth of the trunk R opens about nine or ten inches above the endless band D.

A second trunk, S, provided with a fiaring mouth, slides within R, so as to serve as an extension and adjust the distance of the mouth ofthe trunk from the endless band D.

The inner trunk, S, is raised or lowered by 4a shaft and cords, as shown at t, Fig. 2, or

in any other convenient manner.

Immediately below the mouth of the inner trunk, S, is placed the roller T. Its center should be above the center of the rollers C C, so vas to raise the upper surface of the endless band, which passes over T, and bring the highest point directly under the mouth of S.

Any form of exhaust -blower is attached to the upper opening of the trunk R.

A driving-pulley, V, to receive a belt from a steam-engine or other motor, is placed on one extremity of the shaft E, while a pulley on the other extremity carries a belt to the pulley W on the front roller.

My device is operated as follows: Suppose the article to be cleaned is coifee. The operator adjusts the holes K K in the shaking-table G, soas to pass one bean at a time freely, but not more, and selects from his stock of guides, Fig. 3, one the teeth of which are spaced so that one bean at a time may go through, and places it on the machine, as shown at Q, and as already described. The coffee is introduced into the hopper 0. The driving-belt is slipped on the pulley V, andthe machine set in motion.

The pegs in the roller E impart a vertical vibration to the shaking-table G, and as the coffeebeans fall from the hopper onto the upper surface, since the ledge 7c prevents them 4escaping elsewhere, they gradually iind their way out of the holes K K and fall upon and are quite evenly distributed over the upper surface of the endless band D.

The operator watches and regulates the vigor ofthe vibration of the post M and its screw and nut, making it as lively as possible without throwing t-he beans over the ledge of the shaking-table.

The endless band D is moving` in the direction of the arrow in Fig. l, (toward the front of the machine,) and brings the beans under the guide Q, which still further scatters and separates them. They then pass under the mouth of the trunk S, through which a strong current of air is passing, drawn by the exhaust-blower.

The operator carefully watches the effect of the current, increasing its force by bringing S nearer to the cloth and closing the shutter r, or lessening it by opening the shutter and moving S farther away, as the case may require.

The lighter particles are removed by the current and deposited in any of the forms of receptacle now employed with exhaust-blowers. The residue continues on the cloth until it turns the roller C at the front of the machine, when it drops off into a receiver.

The station of the operator is at the front of the machine-t'. e., the end farthest from the hopper O. By means of the lever 19,Fig. 2, he regulates the ow from the hopper onto the shaking-table, and also removes by hand any bodies which may remain on the. cloth after they have passed the exhaust, and whose re moval is desired.

The exhaust will, of course, remove the lighter bo'dy only, and this may be either the article to be cleaned or the impurities to be removed.

Where the diiference in gravity is slight the exhaust is useless, and the trunk It may and should be removed and the machine used without it. This may also be done where the power is insuflicient, or from any other reason an exhaust-blower is not at hand. In such cases the roller T is also useless, and may be dispensed with.

The bottom boards, Z, Fig. 1, should also be moved upward till the upper part of the endless band D rests upon them, so that while picking the cloth may not be depressed so as to cause the beans, &'c., to run together. The

operator then stands in front of the machinet. e., at the end most distant from the hopper. As the cloth moves toward him the beans will be found evenly scattered upon it, and if the cloth is of a proper contrasting color (as should be the case) from the article to be cleaned, the impurities will be readily distinguished, and may be rapidly removed by hand.

It has been found by trial that one person can pick four times more coffee in this way in a given time than he could by the old method.

Having now described my invention and its use, what I claim as new, and desire to pattent, is

l. The combination of the shaking-table G, provided with holes, as aforesaid, the endless band or cloth D, and the guide Q, as and for the purposes specified.

2. The combination, in a coffee-cleaning mas In testimony that I claim the foregoing improvement in coiee cleaners, as above described, l have hereunto set myhand this 28th day of March, 1879.

ABRAM WAKEMAN, JR.

Witnesses:

J osEPH M. ALEXANDER, HENRY P. WELLS. 

